DeLand, FL – A Stetson University student is out on $10,000 bond after one of his dorm neighbors claimed he pointed a rifle at his peep hole after he wouldn’t answer the door.
20-year-old Denis Vasenin left Volusia County Jail on Monday, hours after he was arrested at Hatter Hall on East Michigan Avenue and charged with possession of a firearm on school property and aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony.
The DeLand Police Department says members of Stetson’s Public Safety department asked them to come to Hatter Hall around 10:30pm Sunday after a neighbor of Vasenin’s reported the incident.
According to the arrest report, the 21-year-old victim he heard 2 men – including Vasenin – joking as they approached his dorm room and knocked on the door, but he didn’t answer because he didn’t want to talk to them.
The victim told officers he saw Vasenin with a rifle in his hands through the peep hole and that Vasenin pointed the rifle at the peep hole after appearing to place a round in the chamber. Officers believe Vasenin and the other man then went into their separate dorm rooms without firing a shot.
Public Safety officials and DeLand PD responded to Vasenin’s dorm room a few minutes later and found him holding a gun cleaning instrument that was still in its packaging, per the report.
After getting Vasenin’s consent to search his dorm room, DeLand PD discovered a camouflage gun bag under his bed that housed an SKS-style bolt-action rifle. Officers did not find any ammunition for the rifle in the room or in his vehicle nor did they find any other firearms or ammunition.
When questioned, Vasenin claimed he and his friend brought the rifle on campus in order to clean it and that he usually housed the firearm at a friend’s home off-campus.
Vasenin also claimed that it was his friend’s idea to show the rifle to the victim and that he didn’t know there was someone behind the door when he pointed the rifle at it.
The victim refused to press charges but Vasenin was arrested anyway because Stetson University did want to press charges, per the report.
Denis Vasenin (mugshot courtesy VCJ)
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